This is my very first post about pasta.

Pasta was born as the dish of the poor. It is an every day dish, so imbued with tradition that every region, city and town along the Boot have their very own forte born from their very own land. Sometimes, the same shape has different names depending on where you are (cappelletti in Reggio Emilia are called tortellini in Modena). There is nothing more Italian than pasta.

Since I’ve been in London I’ve made it only on few occasions and most of the times with ready sauce.
The other day I finally got to make the sauce from scratch with fresh ingredients I had at hand: homegrown basil, Parmigiano Reggiano from my local caseificio, Ligurian olive oil.

Of course you can have pasta every day but with the right ingredients it’s a whole different experience.

Feeds 2 people

Ingredients

200gr whole wheat Fusilli
a bunch of basil leaves (from 10 stems)
a good handful of redskin peanuts
40gr Parmigiano Reggiano plus more for topping
5 TBS olive oil
a pinch of salt
10 baby plum tomatoes

Know-how

First, cut the tomatoes in half and set aside
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and pour the Fusilli in (they’ll cook in 10 minutes).
In the meanwhile, finely chop the basil, Parmigiano, peanuts, olive oil and salt in a food processor. If you still find it dry add some more olive oil.

Sear the cut side of your tomatoes in a very hot pan with some olive oil for 2 minutes, until your pasta is ready. Drain it, combine, plate it, exaggerate with the Parmigiano… e buon appetito!